Faith & Politics

Back in July, i broached the topic of the intertwining of faith and politics, promising to articulate a formulation for the sort of faith-based beliefs that should work their way into the law-making arena, and those that should not.  While i haven't gotten around to writing that blog entry (it's a very difficult subject to get fully around), i did want to share this article from Albert Mohler (see the entry from 10/15/04).  See link for full text of article.

Christian Faith and Public Policy--Questions Revisited

How are we to relate our Christian beliefs to the political sphere?  That question has demanded the most careful and faithful Christian thinking for centuries, but recent developments demonstrate that our current post-Christian age presents us with new and ominous postmodern perils.

Recent comments by Senator John Kerry provide an illustration of how not to apply Christian truth to the great moral questions of our age.  The senator provided an illuminating insight into his confused and convoluted understanding of faith and politics when, in the course of Wednesday night's presidential campaign debate, he responded to a question about abortion. Bob Schieffer of CBS News, moderator of the debate, posed the following question to Senator Kerry: "The New York Times reports that some Catholic archbishops are telling their church members that it would be a sin to vote for a candidate like you because you support a woman's right to choose an abortion and unlimited stem cell research. What is your reaction to that?"

Mr. Kerry responded by arguing that he respectfully disagrees with these archbishops of his church. "I am a Catholic. And I grew up learning how to respect those views, but I disagree with them, as do many. I believe that I can't legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith." In other words, Senator Kerry claimsto be a Catholic who is perfectly free from any responsibility to apply Catholic moral teaching to public policy, insofar as he has the opportunity to form, influence, and vote upon legislation.

In an extended commentary, Senator Kerry tried to relate his Catholic background to his publicrecord. "Now with respect to religion, you know, as I said I grew up Catholic. I was an altar boy. I know that throughout my life this has made a difference for me. And as President Kennedy said when he ran for president, he said, I'm not running to be a Catholic president. I'm running to be a president who happens to be Catholic. Now my faith affects everything that I do and choose. . . and I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people." In framing his argument this way, Senator Kerry effectively argues that there can be no "transference" of his Catholic conviction to his political life. With this argument, the senator intends to absolve himself of responsibility to contend for Catholic moral teaching in his political life.

That argument, antithetical to the Christian moral tradition, would at least have the virtue of consistency. It would, that is, be considered consistent if Senator Kerry would hold consistently to it.

But Senator Kerry immediately departed from his own argument. After stating that his Catholic conviction should not be transferred "in any official way to other people," he went on to argue that his Catholic faith is the animating motivation behind his work for justice, environmentalism, and the alleviation of poverty. "That's why I fight against poverty," Kerry explained. "That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect the earth. That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of these things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith."

Which way is it, Senator Kerry? It would appear that Kerry is quite willing to transfer his moral convictions concerning poverty and the environment to public policy. But the transference of his self-proclaimed Catholic identity and motivations stops when the contested territory becomes sexuality or abortion. Given Senator Kerry's characteristic confusion on this issue, those watching Wednesday night's debate could hardly be surprised.

See above link for rest of article.